Benches cleared during Wednesday’s game between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers after Chris Sale hit Victor Martinez with a pitch in the sixth inning. The plunking came after Sale appeared to accuse Martinez and the Tigers of stealing signs.
As you can see from the video above, Sale sarcastically tipped his cap toward center field in the third after he struck Martinez out to end the inning. It became obvious that Sale thought someone — possibly from the Tigers bullpen — was tipping pitches to Detroit’s hitters. Sale hit Martinez the next time he faced him and the dugouts emptied.
No punches were thrown, and the Tigers got the last laugh. Sale had dominated Detroit to that point, but Martinez ended up scoring the tying run on a sacrifice fly after Sale plunked him. The lefthander’s day was done after the sixth and the Tigers went on to score five more runs and come away with a 6-1 victory.
The issue didn’t go away after the benches cleared and Sale’s day ended. When Ian Kinsler drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh, he looked toward the Chicago dugout and mocked Sale by pretending he was using binoculars.
Sale gave it right back to Kinsler.
Ian Kinsler with perhaps the best troll job of all-time right here. pic.twitter.com/KxXFPAbgd7
— Isaac (@WorldofIsaac) September 24, 2014
Unfortunately, the Tigers are likely heading to the playoffs and the White Sox are not in the postseason hunt. The two teams won’t meet again until 2015. Until then, we’re left to wonder what could have been. Wednesday’s circus felt like just the beginning.
GIF via UPROXX
